Isaac Herzog: Labour ‘riddled to its bones with antisemitism’

The chairman of the Jewish Agency has said that Labour antisemitism allegations are “mind boggling, extremely disturbing and extremely dangerous.”

Isaac Herzog, who is the former chairman of Israel’s Labor Party, made the comments on Thursday in Jerusalem after the airing of Panorama, which alleged interference from Corbyn’s office on antisemitism cases.

“One of the two major pillars of British democracy that we like to look up to as an example of impressive democracy is riddled to its bones with antisemitism,” he said.

“The British labour party where most of the Jewish community felt at home with, which had very close ties to my sister party the Labor Party, is all of a sudden fully exposed with enormous hate and antisemitism,” Herzog went on.

“And it’s mind boggling, extremely disturbing and extremely dangerous and it needs to be dealt with immediately with no ifs and buts. And I think it is also a major challenge for the British political system.”

He also repeated claims Corbyn ignored his written invitation to visit the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem following “comments” on the holocaust. “I never got a reply, never ever. And he never bothered to come and see,” Herzog said.

When Herzog made similar allegations last year, the Labour Party said Corbyn declined the invitation citing “existing commitments” and sent the party’s general secretary on his behalf.

The Labour Party has been approached for comment.